MySpace is full of people who'd like you to try their wares. If it's music or comedy, so much the better. Beware, though, as you may also get something more nefarious. In addition to the two MySpace viruses this year, there are now two reports of MySpace being used to increase installations of adware.

The most recent report is of an ad that was placed on MySpace, which used the WMF exploit which was patched in January (MS06-004), to install adware. Earlier this month, it was found that another company had created profiles on MySpace in order to increase installs of their adware.

Again, we run into the difficulties in balancing functionality and security. There's really nothing to prevent profiles being created for questionable purposes. And in further searching, it actually appears that at some point in the past there were quite a few sites that were linking to Zango downloads, not just those connected to video clips. One such member's page is very clear about his intentions - he's part of the affiliate program, and he's trying to make some money.

Unfortunately, this behavior is explicitly forbidden in the MySpace Terms of Use Agreement. His account has apparently been terminated since posting that request for downloads. Other users have been more fortunate (perhaps they took it down before they were caught, but not before Google could index it!) while links to adware downloads have been removed from their profiles, the rest of their profile is still available.

Also in the Terms of Use Agreement is the caveat that MySpace may require you to download software or content in order to participate in certain services. The update to the video player could be considered one of these things. It could be considered quite confusing for certain users to know which downloads for video players are legitimate, and which are unapproved.